Liberty Jail

39°14′55″N 94°25′15″W / 39.248523°N 94.420753°W / 39.248523; -94.420753

Partial reconstruction of Liberty Jail
Exterior of Liberty Jail Visitors' Center
Painting depicting the jail

Liberty Jail is a historical jail in Liberty, Missouri, United States, which served as the county jail of Clay County, Missouri between December 1834 and 1853.[1] The jail is known in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints due to the imprisonment of Church president Joseph Smith and some of his associates during the 1838 Mormon War.

The location is now a visitors’ center operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and includes an indoor cut-away reconstruction of the jail on its original site, at 216 North Main.

  1. ^ W. H. Woodson (1920), History of Clay County, Missouri, Topeka, [Kan.]: Historical Pub. Co., p. 91, LCCN 21015581, OCLC 8244981, OL 6637053M